Heretofore, prior art has identified several powered means for the pickup and containment of loose materials considered to be soil or litter. These are:
1. air movers, or those machines making use of high velocity air movement created by mechanically causing a partial vacuum to exist somewhere in the system; PA1 2. manual cylinder brushing machines such as the carpet sweeper; PA1 3. endless belts which have scrapers attached for doing work such as removing snow from a surface. PA1 (a) device using less power than a 25-watt light bulb allowing rechargeable battery power and requiring no cords; PA1 (b) a very quiet device which can be used continually in areas where the noise of a vacuum sweeper can become disruptive; PA1 (c) a device with the power to pick up nuts and belts as well as spills of nails, metal shavings and solid food particles; PA1 (d) a device with a mouth large enough to accept items the size of a ping pong ball; PA1 (e) a device that can remove paint and rust scale when fitted with steel bristles, emery cloth or sandpaper; PA1 (f) a device with the delicacy to brush dust from a suit of clothing, furniture and walls; PA1 (g) a device where air movement is still involved and aids in the process of dust particle removal without the involvement of a vacuum; and, PA1 (h) a device which when fitted with an integral dust pan can be emptied simply and quickly into a trash receiver, requiring no additional bag of any kind; PA1 (i) devices which can be very light in weight allowing the operator to support the units tirelessly when cleaning. PA1 (j) devices which can be stored on walls requiring no use of critical floor space.
Vacuum cleaners have been the cleaning appliance of choice over the past 70 years. Wherever electricity was available it was generally the most effective method of cleaning cloth and carpeted surfaces. The addition of the cylindrical brush and beating bar was effective in loosening soil from the material being cleaned. Unfortunately, vacuums are very energy-dependent requiring high speed to be effective. The better machines are incorporating a separate motor to run the brush and bar appliance allowing the high speed power to do the conveying via the high velocity movement of air. Speed generates noise, as a rule, and the vacuum sweeper is at the top of the list of noise makers.
Although there are attempts at powering hand-held units with batteries, they are not very efficient. To render them really effective would mean adding brushes of some sort, such larger motors and heavier batteries. The latter would be counter-productive.
There are areas where a vacuum is ineffective. The vacuum works by moving air from a nozzle through a filtering bag. It must do this at a high enough velocity to involve the target debris. If that debris is larger than the path tubes and nozzles, then clogging can and does occur. Increasing the passage cross-sectional area decreases velocity of air movement thus decreasing effectiveness for smaller, heavier objects. Consequently there are a lot of cleaning jobs where vacuum machines are impractical. For instance, in order to pick up something the size of a ping pong ball, a vacuum machine would be the last choice.
The carpet sweeper has been around for much longer than the vacuum sweeper. It has maintained a position in the marketplace in spite of the more efficient vacuum cleaner. On its behalf, it is quiet and, since it requires no electricity, is quick to use for small, dry spills of fine materials. And, it contains its own receivers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,422 to Yoshamura and Ishel of Japan was recently issued on a manual floor sweeper (1989). The carpet sweeper requires such energy from the operator and is only efficient for covered floor surfaces. As with the rotating brush of vacuum cleaners, these have the tendency to wrap up thread or string on the roller. If attached to anything it must be removed before continuing. Also, they will not clean horizontal corners such as a walls and around table legs.
The endless belt has been around for countless years as a means for transmitting power and conveying materials from one point to another. Only in more recent years has it been used in alternate ways. Two machines are available that make use of working endless belts. One is the well-known belt sander and the other is a recently patented Snow Blow With Vertical Endless Belt Digger issued to Cloutier in 1988, U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,073.
The sander cleans surfaces by removing integral particle from the surface to which applied. The belt also is integrated with the parts doing the actual work. A belt strand is always parallel with the work surface therefore, as will be seen, this machine is not similar in any way to this invention other than using an endless belt.
The snow blower incorporates an endless belt with transverse appliances referred to as diggers. The verticality of the belt strands is most necessary to the machine as it is the intent to accelerate the particles being conveyed upward and hurl them a distance forward and away from the machine. By the very nature of snow, it would be impractical to attach a container of any kind. Power requirements are significantly different being on the order of 250 times more than the machine being described herein. It is fitted with a rubber belt of some thickness and the resulting stiffness requires a great deal of power to drive. Of course, the weight of the snow produces the main work.
The endless belt snow blower configuration is designed strictly for cleaning of snow from a horizontal surface and would work in no other capacity. The belt strands operate solely in vertical planes and the digging appendages stand out rigidly in perpendicular directions from the strands of the belt. Again it will be seen that this machine has little in common with this invention other than incorporating an endless belt.
It is my purpose to show I have invented a basic mechanism for the brushing and sweeping activities for interiors of the home as well as surfaces restaurants, will find this machine quiet and very effective. Further, it will be shown that this tool will remove many of the disadvantages of the aforementioned implements and include some additional advantages and conveniences.